Trump pumps up conservatives for coming elections
WASHINGTON — Basking in the glow of a cheering crowd, President Trump offered a greatest-hits recap of his campaign themes during wideranging remarks Friday to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
He urged activists to help Republicans in the fall midterm elections and heed his recent calls to address gun violence.
Trump’s speech at CPAC came at the end of a week that included meetings with students and teachers and state and local officials on ways to bolster school safety and address gun violence. He said the “evil massacre” of 17 people at the Florida high school had “broken our hearts.”
Trump declined to reiterate his proposal to increase age restrictions for the purchase of firearms, an idea the NRA has opposed. But at separate event with the nation’s governors, who are attending a weekend conference, Vice President Mike Pence noted that Trump had called for raising the age to 21, part of what Pence called “working with leaders in the Congress to bring this evil in our time to an end.”
Turning to this year’s elections, Trump told conservative activists at CPAC that Republicans must not be complacent in the fall midterms, warning of terrible consequences if Democrats take control of Congress.
Trump predicted Democrats would “take away those massive tax cuts,” referencing his signature tax law signed in December, “and they will take away your Second Amendment.” Trump then surveyed the audience of conservatives on which issue was more important to them, and listened as the crowd cheered loudly in support of the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Near the end of a roughly 75-minute speech, Trump recited the lyrics from the 1960s song, “The Snake,” a campaign staple that served as an allegory to warn of what he views as the dangers of some refugees and immigrants being allowed into the United States. Trump reiterated his campaign pledge to build a wall along the U.S. Mexican border and charged Democrats with failing to engage on a plan to provide protections for young immigrants, even though he ended the program.
Trump argued that his administration has kept his campaign promises, boasting as he often does that he “had the most successful first year in the history of the presidency.”